


Never be the same

by kikibug13



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Canon Disabled Character, M/M, Sort Of, Spoilers, dealing with new disability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 13:12:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12508216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikibug13/pseuds/kikibug13
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal night for Gladio. Not learning that somebody had hurt his human lover - irreparably.





	Never be the same

One moment there was nothing, and the next sensation and awareness flooded Gladio's mind. Just as every night when he awakened. Not quite at the moment the last traces of sunlight disappeared, but he could push that if there was something urgent he knew was coming. 

Tonight was going to be just an ordinary night, so he didn't.

He drew air into his lungs, not because he needed it but so he could make it move past his olfactory detectors. 

No Ignis to see him awake tonight. He stifled the disappointment - especially since there _was_ somebody there. 

He stretched out leisurely, demonstrating how unimpressed he was by Noctis's pacing. (He was not very impressed, but he _was_ surprised. The vampire princeling had never been known for early rising, and he had known him for a very long time.) All demonstrations cut off when he caught sight of the purple-glowing eyes, the fury untainted by any sort of hesitation or idleness. 

"Somebody," he hissed. "Somebody hurt Ignis."

Gladio was moving, the growl in the back of his throat, even before the name finished leaving Noctis's lips. It didn't stop, merely temporarily morphed into " _what?_ " 

"I woke up to the cold smell of his blood. Whatever happened, it was shortly after sunrise." The anger wavered, and Gladio narrowed his eyes. "There is nothing. I. can. do." 

"Nothing you can do 'bout _what_ , Noct?" 

The silence stretched between them for a long moment, then Noctis's nearly silent words thundered in the room. "They took his sight, Gladio. They destroyed his eyes." 

It had been a long, long time since they were in any way inclined to be physically close - vampires were territorial at best, and touch with one not _completely_ subjected to you was far from pleasant, even if Gladio was still, in many ways, Noctis's. But right now he crossed over to the vampire he had sheltered when he was a fledgeling, attacked from far too many directions to count in the beginning, and wrapped an arm around the slender shoulders. 

Noctis had grown into his own. But this was a... special situation.

And not in a good way. 

Gladio did not keep still long, however, not even to offer comfort. 

"Let's go." 

"Yeah." 

They moved fast, to the hospital facility that had taken in the human they had been sharing for years now. But not too fast to talk. 

"When you said you could do nothing, what'd you mean?" 

"My blood won't heal him. The damage's set in too deeply. So even if we turn him..." 

"... shit."

"From what he said, that was not what they meant to do. They were coming after me." 

"... 'course they were." Gladio's fist went deep into a wall. They were far past that building when its residents started taking to the street to see what had happened. "He didn't let 'em anywhere near you." 

"No, he didn't. But..."

But the cost. Gladio knew, oh, he knew. But he knew that Ignis wouldn't have allowed himself anything less. They had established that when Ignis had been no more than a teenager, focused and determined to give the best service to the vampire who had taken him in... even as he had started falling utterly for Gladio instead. 

It had been Ignis who had insisted that he could belong to both of them. That they could both take from him. And he had kept to his word, even when the combination of work and being fed on had nearly pushed him past his limits. (Gladio did not regret putting down rules. He did not regret fighting over them with Ignis, either. Ignis would give out all of himself if he was allowed to, they had all found out.) 

(He had tried to do that again, last night.)

"Was it fire?" 

"Acid. They splashed it at him. He moved mostly out of its way, but some splashed up across left eye, with droplets at the other eye and nose and eyebrow and lip and--"

"Stop panickin', Noct. That ain't gonna help."

"Then what _is_?"

"What'd Iggy say?" 

The silence stretched, punctuated by the sound of their moving along. 

Gladio hissed, then sped up. That could mean so many things, with their Ignis. But Noctis was lost without Ignis's words. The recent years had led to both of them leaning on the human so much...

 

Ignis couldn't fall asleep. He knew he needed to, but he had made the mistake earlier, and now did not dare to. Waking up had been...

Horrifying. 

He was guessing that the painkillers he was being pumped with did not help. They certainly did him no favors when he attempted to listen to an audiobook from his phone, his thoughts and attention tangling up in fraying ribbons. He'd turned it off, but his thoughts alone were not much better.

Noctis had been here, nearly frantic, and Ignis had tried to calm him down, but he knew it had not worked very well. Then dinner had arrived, and, after the experience with lunch, Ignis had begged of him to leave the room and not watch the indignity. 

Noctis had complied. He had not yet returned. 

... no. There was the sound of soft steps. Two sets. Cold fingers wrapped around his hand, and Ignis shuddered. Turned his face as much away as he could, but there were gentle, implacable fingers holding his chin in place. "Gladio." Silence, the hold on his hand getting harder, and he licked his lower lip. "Noctis."

"Hey again." 

"I... apologize for my failure to be coherent earlier. And thank you for your help with my arm."

"Arm?" The nearly silent growl felt like it vibrated in Ignis's bones.

"They'd managed to cut up his arm pretty badly. Prob'ly hoped they'd slice his veins. 'S why I woke up so fast, I think, there was so much--" 

"Blood." Gladio was so angry, Ignis could tell. But he was not letting go. He was not asking him what to do, he was not demanding anything of him - for now, at least - and the chill of his touch helped against the burning on his face.

"Yeah. I could fix that arm up for him, at least. Got the sutures out and everything, too. The sooner we can get you outta here..." 

"I am certain that you can both arrange to get me into a private residence and with the appropriate care during the day." It wasn't exactly asking them to do it - he rarely asked - but he knew that they both would feel better if they could heap comforts on him just now, and he had to admit that it would be... easier, to navigate the new situation without much audience. 

He could _hear_ Noctis straightening up from his slouch as he was given something specific to do. "I can do that." Gladio nodded, Ignis could feel that, and Noctis was off. 

Which left... 

"Iggy." 

Ignis swallowed, his thoughts fraying again, but then he moved his other hand to cover the vampire's with it. His throat was choked up, suddenly, but tears hurt under the bandages, so he swallowed thickly, breathed deeply, to stave it off. Still, he could tell his voice was thick when he spoke again. 

"I did not want it to end like this--" 

"No." Ah. At least Gladio knew what he meant, rather than make Ignis have to explain. Gladio was clever, and the speed at which vampiric thoughts happened meant that he had seen the path Ignis was trying to move in and walked down it enough to understand what he had been thinking of. "You're _not_ a broken toy for us to throw away, Iggy."

Ignis's mouth clicked shut. He couldn't draw a proper breath, and Gladio was not letting go of his hand, either, the tight grasp seemingly the only solid thing in his world, suddenly. 

Gladio gave a dark laugh. "Think you're the only person I've known through the years who's lost somethin' important? Sure, the most important to me, but not the only one. I can make great guesses as to what's happenin' in your head. But you know better'n that, Iggy. You know _us_ better'n that." So quietly that Ignis could barely hear it. "You know me better'n that."

Ignis stayed quiet. Stopped struggling to get away from that fixed point, from that support. Let the ribbons catch against the cold touch, catch and _stay_. Slowly, oh so slowly, they started coalescing. Not quite into the shapes that were familiar, but close enough that he could work with it. 

This time, he turned his face _towards_ Gladiolus. 

"It will never be as it was." An understatement if there ever was one, but that was almost a lightening of the mood. Ignis tended to go for understatements eight times out of ten. The other two times tended to be things that he needed to impress on Noctis, so _those_ were usually exaggerations. 

"... no." And cold lips pressed into the skin over his right eyebrow, making him sigh in contentment. "But it's gonna be outstanding." 

Slowly, Ignis eased back down into his pillow. He was so, so tired. So very tired. 

But, for the first time since he was told that he would never see again, he was not terrified. His heartbeat slowed, comfortable now instead of stuttering. It was all that marked the passage of time for a while, before he murmured, "do you need to feed?" He would not be able to feed on him, not for a while, and they both knew that. So did Noctis. "I... could you be here when I wake up?" 

It wouldn't be okay, he knew, not even with Gladio there, but ... he thought it would be better. 

"I'm not going anywhere tonight, kitten." Pause. "Rest. I'll carry you out myself when Noct sets things up." 

"... all right. Thank you, Gladio." 

"You've got it, Iggy."

And, for the first time since that morning, Ignis believed that he might, eventually, be again at a point where he 'got it.'


End file.
